APA Style 1

A summary of APA Style

I. FORMATTING MANUSCRIPT

1. Margins: Leave at least one inch (2.5 cm) on all sides.

2. Justification: Left-justify the document, leaving the right margin ragged.
3. Typeface: Use a serif typeface such as 10 to 12-point Times New Roman, Palatino, Courier, or VNI-Times
4. Line Spacing: Double-space the entire paper including quotations, reference list, author identification notes, content footnotes, figure captions, and all parts of
tables. Long papers may use 1.5 spacing.
5. Page Headers and Page Numbers: A page header consists of the first two or three words of the title and serves as identification in case pages are separated.
Place the page header and the page number in the upper right corner of the page, e.g. Application Results 1
6. Paragraph Indentation: Indent the first line of each paragraph five to seven spaces (or half an inch). The remaining text of the essay should be left-justified.
7. Long quotations (block quotes):
 Place direct quotations longer than 2 lines in a free-standing block of typewritten lines.
 Omit quotation marks. Block quotations are often introduced with a colon (:).
 Start the quotation on a new line, indented five spaces (or ½ inch) from the left margin without the usual opening paragraph indent.
Example:
… Jones's 1993 study found the following:
Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students
failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199)
8. Headings
 APA headings follow a hierarchy.
 Using different levels of heading helps reveal the organization of the paper.
=> Levels of heading
CENTERED UPPERCASE HEADING Level 5
Centered Uppercase and Lowercase Heading Level 1
Centered, Italicized, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading Level 2
Flush left, Italicized, Uppercase and Lowercase Side Heading Level 3
Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading, ending with a period. Level 4

Example:
 APA Style 2

AN INTERVIEW VALIDATION STUDY Level 5

External Validation Level 1
Method Level 2
Sample and Procedures Level 3
Participants and interview sheets. Level 4
NOTES:
- Do not precede headings with numbers (I, II, 1, 2,…) or letters (A, B, a, b,…).
- Level 4 ends with a period although it might not be a complete sentence.

=> Choice of levels of heading

 Few papers require all 5 levels of heading. Three-level heading is the most common.
- One level (for a short article)  use level 1
- Two levels  use level 1 & level 3 (or level 4)
- Three levels  use level 1, level 3, and level 4
- Four levels  use level 1, level 2, level 3, and level 4

II. WRITING PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS

Examples
As Shrensky (1995) has noted in an earlier paper, poodles can be taught to sing (p. 25).

Shrensky (1995) demonstrates that poodles can be taught to sing (p. 25).
Miniature poodles can be taught to sing (Shrensky, 1995, p. 25).

Shrensky (1995) alleges/claims that poodles can sing (p. 25).

According to Wilson and Collins (1999), Shrensky's study is nonsense (p. 50).

Wilson and Collins (1999) say that Shrensky's study is nonsense (p. 50).

III. WRITING REFERENCES

Here are approved abbreviations for use in a reference list:

 APA Style 3

 chap. for chapter  pp. for page numbers (plural)

 ed. for edition  Vol. for a specific Volume
 rev. ed. for revised edition  vols. for a work with xx volumes
 2nd ed. for second edition  No. for Number
 Ed. for Edited by  Pt. for Part
 (Eds.) for multiple editors  Suppl. for Supplement,
 Trans. for Translated by  Tech. Rep. for Technical Report
 p. for page number, with a space after the  n.d. for no date
period  n.p. for no page

IN-TEXT CITATION REFERENCES

1. Book, one author
… (Chitty, 1996, p.28). Chitty, D. (1996). Do lemmings commit suicide? Beautiful hypotheses and ugly facts. New
Chitty (1996) claimed that sources of facts about lemmings are York: Oxford University Press.
unreliable (p. 28).
2. Book, two authors
…(Rosellini & Worden, 1997, pp. 123-146) Rosellini, G., & Worden, M. (1997). Of course you're angry: A guide to dealing with the
… As Rosellini and Worden (1997) suggested… emotions of substance abuse (Rev. ed.). Center City, MN: Hazelden.

3. Book, 3 to 5 authors
- First citation: Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (1995). The craft of research. Chicago:
Common people may wonder whether doing research is an art (Booth, University of Chicago Press.
Colomb, & Williams, 1995).
- Next citation:
… In fact, research skills are many and researchers need to be trained
(Booth et al., 1995).
4. Book, more than 6 authors
… (Jones et al., 2000). Jones, J.J, Wilson, K.M., Carr, K.L., Clark, J.F., Hudson, L.R., Jacobs, R.D., et al. (2000).
As Jones et al. (2000) demonstrated, … An introduction to linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
5. Book, corporate author
- First citation - Corporate author is not the publisher
 APA Style 4

The number of patients with mental disorders is reported increasing Children's Express. (1993). Voices from the future: Our children tell us about violence in
(American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1990). America. New York: Crown.
- Next citation - Corporate author is the publisher
… Scientists have suggested some solutions to the problem (APA, American Psychiatric Association. (1990). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
1990).
6. Unknown author
Many reports have been made on the relationship between mental Caffeine linked to mental illness. (1991, July 13). New York Times, pp. B13, B15.
illnesses and caffeine (“Caffeine Linked,” 1991). Computers and college writing: Selected college profiles. (1989). City University of New
York: National Project on Computers and College Writing.
One study (“Computers and college”, 1989) examines the differences
between programs at various colleges.
7. Book with editor(s)
… (Moen, Elder, & Luscher, 1995) Moen, P., Elder, G., & Luscher, K. (Eds.) (1995). Examining lives in context: Perspectives on
the ecology of human development. Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.
8. Secondary source
In Seidenberg and McClelland's study (as cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., & Haller, M. (1993). Models of reading aloud: Dual-
Atkins, & Haller, 1993), ... route and parallel-distributed-processing approaches. Psychological Review, 100,
… (Seidenberg & McClelland, as cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & 589-608.
Haller, 1993)
9. Newspaper articles
… (Monson, 1993) - With author
Monson, M. (1993, September 16). Urbana firm obstacle to office project. The
Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, pp. 1, 8, 10-11.
…("Amazing Amazon Region," 1989) - Unknown author
Amazing Amazon region. (1989, January 12). New York Times, p. D11.
10. Magazine articles
- With author / monthly
… (Garner, 1997) Garner, H. J. (1997, July). Do babies have a universal song ? Psychology Today, 102, 70-77.
(=> continuous pagination)
Gerry, R. (1997, April-June). Tempo training for freestyle. Swimming Technique, 34 (1),
 APA Style 5

40-42. (=> paginated by issue)

- Unknown author / weekly
… ("The Blood Business," 1992). The blood business. (1992, September 11). Time, 97, 47-48.
11. Journal articles
- One author (continuous pagination)
… (Simon, 2000). Simon, A. (2000). Perceptual comparisons through the mind’s eye. Memory & Cognition, 23,
635-647.

… (Becker & Rozek, 1995). - Two authors (continuous pagination)

Becker, M. B., & Rozek, S. J. (1995). Welcome to the energy crisis. Journal of Social
Issues, 32, 230-343.

- Multiple authors (continuous pagination)

… (Wolchik et al., 2000). Wolchik, S.A., West, S.G., Sandler, I.N., Tein, J., Coatsworth, D., Lengua, L., et al. (2000).
An experimental evaluation of theory-based mother and mother-child programs
for children of divorce. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 843-
856.
- Non-continuous pagination ( with issue number within parentheses, after the volume number)
Sawyer, J. (1966). Measurement and prediction, clinical and statistical. Psychological
Bulletin, 66 (3), 178-200.
12. Online sources
- With author, no date
… (Nielsen, n.d.) Nielsen, M. E. (n.d.). Notable people in psychology of religion. Retrieved August 3, 2001,
from http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/psyrelpr.htm
- Unknown author, no date
… (“Gender and Society,” n.d.) Gender and society. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2001, from
http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/gender.html
- With author
Bryant, P. (1999). Biodiversity and Conservation. Retrieved October 4, 1999, from
http://darwin.bio.edu/sustain/bio65/Titlpage.htm
Families with no telephone service have difficulty accessing social - With private organization as author
services for which they are qualified (Benton Foundation, 1998, chap. 2, Benton Foundation (1998). Losing ground bit by bit: Low-income communities in the
"Societal Priorities"). information age [Electronic version]. Retrieved June 27, 2001, from
 APA Style 6

http://www.benton.org/Library/Low-Income/two.html
… (Thompson, 2003, ¶ 5). - Chapter or section in an Internet document
or (Thompson, 2003, para. 5). Thompson, G. (2003). Youth coach handbook. In Joe soccer. Retrieved September 17,
2004, from http://www.joesoccer.com/menu.html
H. R. Varian (1997, June 11) suggested one way a professional Varian, H. R. (1997, June 11). The future of electronic journals. Paper presented at the
organization might develop and publish an electronic journal (section 1997 Scholarly Communication and Technology Conference. Retrieved June 27,
7.2). 2001 from http://arl.cni.org/scomm/scat/varian.html
- Government as author
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. (2001). Glacial habitat restoration areas.
Retrieved September 18, 2001, from
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/hunt/hra.htm
- Journal article (e-journal)
Fine, M., & Kurdek, L. A. (1993). Reflections on determining authorship credit and
authorship order on faculty-student collaborations. American Psychologist, 48,
1141-1147. Retrieved June 7, 1999, from
http://www.apa.org/journals/amp/kurdek.html
- Magazine article (e-zine)
Adler, J. (1999, May 17). Ghost of Everest. Newsweek. Retrieved May 19, 1999, from
http://newsweek.com/nwsrv/issue/20_99a/printed/int/ socu/so0120_1.htm
- Newspaper article
Azar, B., & Martin, S. (1999, October). APA's Council of Representatives endorses new
standards for testing, high school psychology. APA Monitor. Retrieved October 7,
1999, from http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct99/in1.html
- Forum
Abeles, T. (1999, May 21). Technology and the future of higher education. Formal
Abeles (1999) asserts that the teacher will be replaced by hi-tech
discussion initiation. Message posted to
machines (n.p.).
http://ifets.gmd.de/past_archives/archiv_150499_250899/0107. html
Abeles (1999, para. 2) asserts that the teacher will be replaced by hi-
- Photo, image
tech machines.
everest2.gif. (1993, April 4). 535K. Image of Mt. Everest. Retrieved June 3, 1999, from
ftp://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/images/views/ sorted.by.type/Mountains/everest2.gif
- University website, department document
 APA Style 7

Chou, L., McClintock, R., Moretti, F., & Nix, D. H. (1993). Technology and education: New
wine in new bottles: Choosing pasts and imagining educational futures. Retrieved
August 24, 2000, from Columbia University, Institute for Learning Technologies
Web site: http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/publications/papers/newwine1.html
- Internet Adobe Acrobat Document (PDF)
Harris Interactive Inc. (2002). Web@work survey 2002: Cyber-addiction in the
workplace. Retrieved March 3, 2003, from page 3 at
http://www.websense.com/company/news/ research/webatwork2002.pdf
- E-book
Wells, A. (1999). The Tillamook [Online]. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State
University Press. NetLibrary. 22 May 2001.
13. Personal communication (letters, e-mail, interview)
- Interview Unrecoverable data => not included
As I was told in an interview (J. Smith, personal communication, August
15, 2001), …
As Jeff Smith told me (Personal communication, August 15, 2001), …
- Email
Bryan Burgin (personal communication, November 18, 1998) notified me
that my proposal had been accepted.
- Letter
… (C. Jones, personal communication, June 6, 1984).
14. Source from an anthology; Chapter from a book
- With editor(s)
Updike, J. (1996). A & P. In Meyer (Ed.), The Bedford introduction to
literature: Reading, thinking, and writing (pp. 487-491). Boston: St. Martin's
Press.
… (Roll, 1976, p.160). Roll, W.P. (1976). ESP and memory. In J.M.O. Wheatley & H.L. Edge (Eds.), Philosophical
dimensions of parapsychology (pp. 154-184). Springfield, IL: American Psychiatric
Press.
- Without editor(s)
 APA Style 8

… (Sesnan, 1997, chap. 1). Sesnan, B. (1997). An introduction to language. In How to teach English (pp. 3-85).
Oxford: Oxford University press.
15. Source from a dictionary or encyclopedia
- With author’s name, no entry
… (Sturgeon, 1995). Sturgeon, T. (1995). The encyclopedia Americana (Vol. 24, pp. 390-392). Danbury, CT:
Grolier.
- With author’s name & entry
Sturgeon, T. (1995). Science fiction. In The encyclopedia Americana (Vol. 24, pp.
390-392). Danbury, CT: Grolier.
- Entry in a dictionary or an encyclopedia
Eschatology. (1982). In Webster's new world dictionary of the American language (2nd
ed.). New York: Simon and Schuster.
Imago. (2000). In World book encyclopedia (Vol. 10, p. 79). Chicago: World Book
Encyclopedia.
16. Source in a multi-volume work
- Several volumes in a multivolume edited work, published over a period of more than 1 year
… (Schlager, 1994-1999). Schlager, N. (Ed.). (1994-1999). How products are made: An illustrated
guide to product manufacturing (Vols. 1-4). Detroit, MI: Gale Research.
- Several volumes in a multivolume work, no editor(s), published within a year
… (Mills, 1996) Mills, L. (1996). Architecture of the Old South (Vols. 1-2). Savannah, GA: Beehive
Foundation.
17. English translation of a book
… (Ebbinghaus, 1885/1913). Ebbinghaus, H. (1913). Memory (H. A. Rueger & C. E. Bussenius, Trans.). New York:
Teachers College. (Original work published 1885)
18. Edition other than first
People of different statuses may use different styles in their speech Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements of style (3rd ed.). New York:
(Strunk & White, 1979). Macmillan.
19. Reprinted or republished works (English translation in an edited work)
… (Freud, 1923/1961). Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard
edition of the complete psychological works ofSigmund Freud (Vol. 19, pp. 3 - 66).
London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1923).
 APA Style 9

20. Edited book

- With editor(s)
Letheridge, S., & Cannon, C. R. (Eds.). (1980). Bilingual education. New York: Praeger.
- Chapter or section in an edited book
James, N. E. (1988). Two sides of paradise: The Eden myth according
… (James, 1988, chap. 3) to Kirk and Spock. In D. Palumbo (Ed.), Spectrum of the fantastic (pp. 219-223).
Westport, CT: Greenwood.
21. Dissertations, theses
- Published (obtained in print from a university)
Olsen, G. W. (1985). Campus child care within the public supported post-secondary
educational institutions in the state of Wisconsin (dare care) (Doctoral
dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1985). Dissertation Abstracts
International, 47/03, 783.
- Unpublished
Bernardi, R.A. (1990). Accounting pronouncements, firm size, and firm
industry: Their effect on Altman's bankruptcy prediction model.
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Nova University, Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Almeida, D.M. (1990). Fathers’ participation in family work: Consequences for fathers’
stress and father-child relations. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of
Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
22. Non-English book
… (Piaget & Inhelder, 1951). - Original version of a non-English book
Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1951). La geneøse de l’ideùe de hazard chez l’enfant [The origin of the
idea of chance in the child]. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

NOTES
- For periodical titles (newspapers, journals, magazines), use title case (i.e. capitalize important words).
e.g. Psychology Today
- For non-periodical titles (books, dictionaries, encyclopedias) use sentence case (i.e. capitalize only the first word).
e.g. Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of human development => book
Webster's new world dictionary of the American language => dictionary
 APA Style 10

- If the publication date is the same, then the entries should appear alphabetically by title (excluding "A" or "The"):
e.g. Neisser, U. (1967). Cognitive psychology. New York: Wiley.
Neisser, U. (1967). Personality and assessment. New York: Wiley.
- The web address (URLs) can be broken after the slash (/) or before the period (.)
- The abbreviations “p.” and “pp.” are used for newspapers in the reference list. Journals and magazines do not need these abbreviations.
e.g. Simon, A. (2000). Perceptual comparisons through the mind’s eye. Memory & Cognition, 23, 635-647. => journal article
Monson, M. (1993, September 16). Urbana firm obstacle to office project. The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, pp. 1, 8, 10-11.
=> newspaper article